The present disclosure relates generally to instruments for locating and retrieving objects. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to devices having a probe including an ultrasound detector and a grasper for locating and retrieving objects from a medium. The present disclosure further relates to devices having a probe including an electromagnetic detector and a grasper for locating and retrieving metallic objects from a medium.
Objects that are not visible to the eye present significant difficulties in their location and retrieval. One specific example is when foreign objects made from materials such as metal, wood, plastic, and glass become lodged in tissue. Medical professionals must locate and remove these objects to prevent further complications such as infection, toxicity and further tissue damage. Foreign objects may be located and removed by exploratory surgery in which a medical professional follows the presumed path of a foreign object as it traveled through the patient's tissue. Exploratory surgery often involves static pre-surgery two-dimensional x-rays, external ultrasound, CAT scan images, and other types of pre-surgery imaging to locate the foreign object. Pre-surgery imaging suffers from drawbacks such as providing the exact location and/or depth of the foreign object within the tissue.
Loss of an object within a medium such as a dark or cloudy liquid presents another example where the object may need to be located and retrieved. For example, fasteners such as bolts and screws may be dropped in containers of oil and paint. Location and retrieval of these objects may require reaching into the medium and feeling around for the object, which can be messy and undesirable as well as require additional time to clean up afterward.
Although medical professionals may be well-equipped with the latest scanning equipment, no tool is presently available that both determines the location of a foreign body near the tool and provides a way to remove the foreign body in real time as the patient remains upon an operating table during surgery. The general population could also benefit from a tool that both determines the location of an object and provides a way to retrieve the object once it is located. Accordingly, there exists a need for the development of a tool that allows for both determining in real time the three-dimensional location of an object and providing a way to retrieve an object that is hidden from view.